Del

Is such a shame our elected officials can't make a informed decision unless they have some thing or someone else to blame to protect their political integrity. Back when the majority of our major political leaders had some military service behind them they knew how to get things done in a timely fashion.. Todays political leaders are experts at VACIALLATING only.. The majority can't lead a 1 car funeral down a 1 way street these days.

JoeN

William R Rhoads

This is a nightmare just waiting to happen! This oil contains methane gas very explosive and it kills the OX out of the air and it kills where ever it lands kill and it never returns! Canada does not use pollution guide lines anymore! This a perfect nightmare for US sabotage! lest us not forget what BP did to gulf with the same type of oil and there our still dead zone that will never return! That pipeline is only asking for trouble with a capital T !The rich do not care what this does to our family and our children It would be biological suicide to this country!the us terror would love that pipeline to destroy it and our land and our children future all for the dollar! stop it now!!!

J R Dahl

Please get your facts straight and study the issue. I doesn't have anything to do with the "rich", it is all about being good neighbors with our Canadian friends and turning away from OPEC and Oil from South American Chavez Oil.
About North American energy independence.
I do not agree with Trouble with a capital T. It is not about the Dollar.. it is about energy independence.

Terra Wilson

Darrell Reeves

Bill, do you propose that we all ride bicycles around the country in lieu of our motor vehicles? I am in favor of alternative forms of energy that ARE ECONOMICALLY VIABLE AND FEASIBLE TO the average consumer. The pipeline is much safer than shipping it by rail cars. I recall all of the naysayers wailing and knashing their teeth when the Alaska pipeline was first proposed falsely stating that it could pollute and kill the wildlife. Poppycock! It has been safe since it was built in the early 1970's. To you naysayers why don't you and your ilk come up with other alternative forms of energy instead of whining and caterwauling like you always do! Our vehicles do not run on water, and electric cars pose a problem with the disposal of old batteries, and hydrogen is not cost efficient yet.

.H.S.

The AL isn't involved. It is just a poll. Something to do on their web page. It doesn't mean anything. They're just polls on current events. If you want to participate fine, if not fine. The AL only gets involved in political issues that involve veterans and defense.

Mark Tabbert

Great to see this kind of issue on the American Legion site. Keystone is not needed and the tar sands need to stay put and I think they will even if Obama bows to fossil fuel pressure.
We have more fossil fuel in reserve than we can afford to burn says the IEA, the World Bank and the world's scientists. Climate change is the biggest threat to our security says the Pentagon. Take a look guys.
Mark Tabbert Viet Nam Era Army, volunteered in 1969

Darrell Reeves

Climate change occurs naturally Mark. All of this rubbish concoted by the far left is a hoax perpetrated upon us all. Follow the money trail and look at the shameless hucksters and liars such as Al Gore who have made millions off of this farce. These harlots tax us with carbon credits and laugh all the way to the bank. How arrogant to assume that we have caused so called b.s. global warming since the 1900's due to our using fossil fuels. How did we have the ice ages that occurred naturally millions of years ago before the existence of man allegedly ruining the environment? Wild eyed ignorant liberals spewing their lies and gaining political office and implementing draconian environmental policies are the biggest threat to our national security not climate change Mark. There are a lot more credible scientists who are climatologists who refute the lies that we cause or contribute to global warming. These so called scientists that the left touts as verifying global warning being caused by man. are agenda driven charlatans who make their living via grant money that us taxpayers have to pay.

Dr. Robin Gutmann

Darrell,
Your rebuff is totally naïve. It sounds like another “Patriot, with a right or wrong blind support”. Global warming is a fact. Yes climate change is a natural occurrence, but not at the accelerated rate as that which has been experienced in the last twenty years. It is so easy to look at things in a myopic fashion without recognizing the BIG PICTURE. Think cause and effect. The pipeline and all the additional environmental damage attributed to the Bush era are immediate fixes.
There is absolutely no doubt that the politicians presently and past are self-serving egocentric dangers to what we all served to protect in the military. As I view the media and the instant gratification society we live, I am particularly concerned for future generations. Present loss of privacy, spying on the populace through every means of technology is a major concern! Fear of terrorism; America get a grip. We are giving so many rights, liberty and freedoms in the sake of fear. The Pipe Line? Really!! Just go fly and be treated like a felon after you just forked over several hundred dollars in a no frill cramped plane.
Some of your points are spot on, but please realign your perspective to consider the big picture and related cause and effects of our actions.

WILLCAT

IT IS JUST ANOTHER WAY TO STALL THE NATIONS ECONOMY AND MAKE US TO BE DEPENDENT ON OTHER COUNTRIES. IF AND WHEN ANOTHER COUNTRY PUTS IN THE PIPELINE FOR THEM SELFS WE WILL BE BURING IT FROM THEM.YOU WONDER IF THIS IS BEING DONE ON PURPOSE OR IS IT STUPIDITY.

kirk

Take a close look at why these things are being done! The fracking etc. has increased production and they are looking for ways to move product to EXPORT to places paying higher prices (no plans to use in this economy).

Bob Goss

I agree with the above comment that the Keystone pipeline is not needed. The Canadians are looking for an inexpensive way to get to the ocean for shipped to China. If the oil is forced to be distributed locally then it will put downward pressure on local prices helping the U.S. economy. It is already doing this to a degree.

The argument that it will create jobs is bogus as the jobs are temporary construction jobs. Once it is built it takes few people to run a pipeline.

BILL VOGT

Scott Lee

I can't believe there are so many "low information voters" in the AL. The Tar Sands are going to be processed whether we are a part of it or not, but other countries will get the jobs and taxes and prosperity that it will bring. Why are environmentalists so blind to reality??

FOREST WEBB

WHY NOT PUT REFINERIES WHERE THE OIL IS AND DISTRIBUTE IT IN THE US AND CANADA. THE ONLY REASON FOR THE PIPELINE IS TO GET IT TO THE PORT SO IT CAN BE SHIPPED OVERSEAS. AFTER ALL THE BIGGEST US EXPORT IS GASOLINE.

Thomas Herriman

There really is no reason to build a pipeline across America. All we need is to build a refinery at the Crossing of the Canadian border. Fuel and oil are now being trucked from the gulf or the West Coast creating lots of waste that can be cut by a Northern Refinery producing fuel and jobs where they are needed.

Richard Hofacker

Bloomberg Business Week magazine ran an in-depth article on the Keystone pipeline project on Nov. 14, 2011, spelling out the pressures, pro and con. At that time the Canadians had already spent more than a billion dollars in lobbying and advance preparations without laying a single inch of pipe. Among those opposing it then were the Republican governor of Nebraska and an unlikely coalition of cattle ranchers and environmentalists. Critics also accuse Trancanada of threatening landowners along the proposed route with eminent domain and taking them to court, even before they had a permit. The company hired by the State Department to conduct the main environmental impact study was Cardno Entrix in Houston, which just happens to be a client of TransCanada. The history of oil pipeline disasters is there to read, but this line would run through some of the fiercest weather regions on the continent, making it even more likely to create havoc. The project also poses a huge increase in the cost of a barrel of oil produced from the sands if the producers (Shell, Suncor Energy, Total and others are forced to assume some costs that currently are not theirs. This project stinks of corruption.

Bill Vogt

Rich Mullin

In the Nation most of us believe we live in and served , the pipeline would be built economically , environmentally and purposefully with the citizen's and nation's security front and center, weather by Govt. ,private enterprise or a combination. Neither have ever been perfect but the foul subversion of patriotism , loyalty , moral character, the ability to think and purpose of E Pluribus Unum that an invading army couldn't destroy, has been by corruption and saboteurs. We're in a tight spot

al swindell

Matthew Perry

The only long-term solution to energy problems is better conservation and fewer people in the world by way of adequate family planning and birth control available for all humans on the planet. That is an issue that should not be political, but biological common sense.

Jerry Martin

Let's skip all this rhetoric that we hear on the news all the time and talk about the bottom line. The working folks have been getting hosed by big oil and the government for years and if this is a chance for the little guy to save a few bucks, great. Our power grid in this country is far more exposed to terrorism than the pipeline would ever be. Time for common sense to take over and get us the pipeline.

Lazy Lion

It is sad, but not surprising, to see how the AL and so many AL members buy the line being fed by the backers of this pipeline. So many here pooh-pooh those of us that bring up environmental concerns as left-wingnuts, while those same people don't look at the full picture.

Ask the simple question; WHY is this pipeline needed?

A lot of people will say because shipping via truck or train is more dangerous. But, why is it being shipped at all? Why are they not refining it locally? Others have already answered this question. It is because they want to ship this oil overseas. This oil is not meant for you or me. We are not willing to pay enough for it, so it is being shipped off to the highest bidder. And all that will be left for us when this is all over is the environemtal risks and the "beauty" of the pipeline.

Old Man from the Hills

Ever wonder why we are so dependant on foreign oil? Ever wonder why none of the major oil companies have invested in new/up-graded oil refineries in this country? As far as I can determine, no new refineries have been built in this country since the seventies?? I don't have a real opinion either way, but I am a little curious about the methods being used by the Canucks and thier supporters in aquiring a right of way thru the US. Of course, our goverment, at all levels, don't have a problem with taking private properity to hand over to business interests( ie land developers/ private manufacturers, ect,ect) to "boost the tax-base" in any area of the country. Farmers/ranchers/just commom people who've lived and worked the land for the last 150 years know that if local or federal goverment wants thier land they will loose in any "court" in the country. And local goverment uses this power more and more. Who says you ever own anything?? I wonder how much of a tax break the pipeline will involve??